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Adobe After Effects is primarily used as a software for video editors, to create motion graphics and also visual effects. It allows users to animate, edit, and compose media be it 2D or 3D space with many different built-in tools and third party plug-ins which can be downloaded from the Internet depending on what type of plug in the user is looking for. It also provides individual attention to variables like parallax and also user adjustable angles of observation.

Adobe After Effects is a layer-orientated program software. Which also means, individual media objects like video clips, still images, audio clips, etc. runs on its own. In contrast, other Non-Linear Editing Systems use a system where individual media objects can occupy the same track as long as they do not overlap at the same time. This track-orientated system is more suitable for editing and can keep project files more simple. The layer orientated system that Adobe After Effects has is suitable for extensive video effects work and also keyframing. Although other composting packages, especially the ones that employ tree or node workflows, such as Nuke Software, and eYeon Fusion, are better suited to manage larger volumes of objects within a composite. Adobe After Effects is capable of countering the problem somewhat by selectively hiding layers or by grouping them into pre-compositions.

The main interface of Adobe After Effects consists of several panels. Three of the most commonly used panels are the Project Panel, Composition Panel, and the Timeline Panel. The project panel acts as a bin to important still images,videos or audio footage items. Footage files in the Project Panel are used in the Timeline Panel, where layer ordering and timing can be adjusted according to the user. The items visible at the current time marker are displayed in the Composition Panel.

Adobe After Effects shares many of the same features with other Adobe programs, such as creating shapes, that are defined by bezier curves. Like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, After Effects can import and manipulate many image formats, filters, and adjustments.

After Effects was originally created by the Company of Science and Art in Providence, Rhode Island, where the first two versions of the software, 1.0 (January 1993[1]) & 1.1, were released by the company. CoSA along with After Effects was then acquired by Aldus corporation in July 1993, which was in turn acquired by Adobe in 1994, and with it PageMaker. Adobe's first new release of After Effects was version 3.0.

The following is the list of versions of After Effects over the years, including the first two versions released by CoSA.

fixes an "Unexpected data type" error opening project with missing effects, a crash with Directional Blur and other effects on computers with 16 or more logical processors, and a crash opening a composition created by Automatic Duck Pro Import AE.

After Effects has extensive plug-in support; a broad range of third party plug-ins are available. A variety of plug-in styles exist, such as particle systems for realistic effects for rain, snow, fire, etc.

With or without third-party plug-ins, After Effects can render 3D effects. Some of these 3D plug-ins use basic 2D layers from After Effects.

In addition to 3D effects, there are plug-ins for making video look like film or cartoons; simulating fire, smoke, or water; particle systems; slow motion; creating animated charts, graphs, and other data visualization; calculating the 3D movement of a camera in a 2D video shot; eliminating flicker, noise, or rigging lines; translating timelines from FCP or Avid; adding high-end color correction; and other workflow improvements and visual effects.